Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers (2004)

2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers returns to the subject of the Five-Year Information Format Trends report of 2003, driven by remarkable changes since its publication. The new report examines the "unbundling of content" from traditional containers (books, journals, CDs) and distribution methods (postal mail, resource sharing). As the boundaries blur between content, technology and the information consumer, the report shows how format now matters less than the information within the container.

The report lays out the top trends in content and what they may mean for libraries in the next five years:

Legitimacy of open-source publishing (e.g. blogs)

Rapidly expanding economics of microcontent

Repurposing of "old" content for new media

Multimedia content as a service for an array of portable devices

The report also explores the next challenge, providing context to content with tools such as contextual searching. See an interactive example of contextual searching based on the static illustration within this report.